Belated Trade Posts: Trade Bait Ate My Brain

I completed two trades recently. Well, not so recently. These awesome traders will have to forgive me for taking so damn long to say thanks, but the thanks is of the utmost sincerity. First off, Oscar at All Trade Bait, All The Time and I had been discussing a trade since before he got his blog up and running like the well-greased trade bait machine it is. We eventually got our trade going, and finally I'm getting caught up on posting it.

Oscar sent some sweet Lous I needed. The card on the right may have been Lou's most foily card. Lucky for him that he just missed the foily madness of the late '90s.

Here's a less over-produced Trammell from the junk wax era. Only 5000 of these babies.

Two key Ripkens for the player collection.

This Cabrera GU was much-needed.  I'm not a huge fan of this jersey set, but Cabby can always make a mediocre set cool.

If you haven't checked out his blog yet, and you're looking for another Dodgers trader, be sure to check it out. You have to love the purity of his blog's theme, just like the title proclaims: All Trade Bait, All The Time.

The other trade I'm catching up with was with Sports Cards Ate My Brain. This blog may be one of the best-kept secrets in the Blogosphere. If you haven't stopped over there before, be sure to do so. Scott's a great writer, and an insanely generous trader, as you'll soon see.

We talked about trading for a few GU cards for my player collection.

I never bought much Unique. I picked up a few base cards and parallels, but I never saw any of their GU insert sets. I dig all the baseball thematics thrown in here, with the stitches and the base-shaped swatch. And it's kind of nice to see Cabby fielding for a change. Let's hope he doesn't become a gaping whole at third base this season.

Always great to add some more Verlander fabric to the collection.

So these two cards would have been perfect for a trade, but, like the generous trader he is, Scott threw in a slew of extras.

Some very cool numbered Tigers inserts here. I especially dig the Gomez with the bastardized Mondrian background. The Porcello rookie is great, too.

The highlight of this trade was in the extras. Scott didn't even mention he was sending Verlander rookies, and a huge batch of them at that. These rookies doubled what I previously had for 2005 Verlander rookies, and I'm just blown away. I've always loved rookies, since I came from the generation of collecting that was pre-GU and inserts mania. I especially love the Prestige rookie. Verlander's upper lip is frighteningly clean-shaven and he's wearing some mysterious purple uniform with stirrups.

Thanks again, Scott, and thanks, Oscar. Great trades from two generous bloggers.

Celebrating a Kaline Trifecta, Sort of

Last post, I showed off the cardboard gifts my little sis got for me for passing my tests and becoming a doctoral candidate. Well, I had to get myself a present, too, something I'd really been wanting. And it's now one of my favorite cards in the collection.

My first Kaline auto. Pretty sweet, right? And I picked it up off eBay for less than $20. It took me a long time to settle on this auto, and I'm glad I did. There's a lot of gray in this, but it feels vintagey rather than drab. And it's a sticker auto, but you can barely tell, even in person. They worked the sticker into the card design so well, placed into the border, that you only notice the rainbow glare when you tilt it. And you have to love Kaline's completely legible signature.

So, with this card, I'm going to go ahead and claim trifecta. I don't have his official rookie card, and it might take a Pulitzer or MacArthur grant to justify that expense. And that's a long shot for this writer, for any writer. So, here's the other two-thirds of my semi-trifecta:

This was a gift from the awesome little sister. My "rookie" card.

I got this in a trade with Carl Crawford cards.

Oh, and what the hell, I'll throw a manupatch in to make it a quad-fecta, or whatever we're calling them in. This one came from a contest at Play at the Plate.

And, one more time:

Dr. Vealtone and His Well-Earned Cards

I've been absent for a long while, far too long, when I should have been exploring the wonders of cardboard. I have a ton of trades to catch up on, card shows to recap, eBay wins, and etc. I've been itching to blog, but life has gotten in the way.

As some of you know, I've been studying for my qualifying exams for my PhD in literature. These tests consist of three four-hour written essay tests, proctored by faculty, no notes. Each test covers a literary period, and each test requires the knowledge of about 50 texts each, plus criticism. These tests are the reason why people choose not to do PhDs. To quote one of my brilliant colleagues, they instill "pants-pissing" terror.

Preparing for these ate up an entire semester, and the last few weeks I've stopped doing everything but studying. Well, I passed those mothers, and passed my oral examination yesterday, which means I'm an official doctoral candidate. Almost Dr. Vealtone, after the dissertation is in, and that's the fun part.

So, sorry to go on about these. For those of you out there considering PhDs, I empathize if you have to go through this academic hazing. And thanks to a few other bloggers who've already gone through these tests and who offered support. That means you, Dr. Carl Crawford Cards.

By the third day of exams, I was running on fumes, had no motivation to do the last exam, but that's when my amazing little sister came through. You may remember her for her awesome cardboard presents of Christmases past, including this one:

And this one:

So, my little sister sent me a big old flat rate box that said: DO NOT OPEN UNTIL AFTER YOU TAKE YOUR EXAMS. And that thing saved me. When I ran out of intellectual stamina, all that carried me through was that box waiting for me at home. Immediately after I finished my last test, I rushed home and tore that thing open. Inside was a 600-count box of Tigers cards.

Inside were a bunch of Sweet Lous,

And where would Lou be without his buddy Trammell.

Of course, there had to be some Gibsons. And then plenty of other random Tigers. That 1991 Fryman was the prize of my collection back when I was 10, and now I have a pair.

Some of Prince's gigantic pappa.

Moving backwards from the glory of the '90s Tigers, Sis' package had some great vintage. I love the 1972 Freehan, and that's my first card of my least favorite coach, Gene Lamont.

A few numbered cards in the box, including a sweet early Inge card and a Donnie Kelly rookie. This Kaline was one of my favorites in the box. Awesome card.

A few more Verlanders for the player collection.

Gotta love those Cabby cards, a few filling important gaps in the player collection.

I loved the Pudges. Lots of Pudge wearing my two favorite things: catcher's gear and a Tigers' uniform.

And, finally, to show how ultimately awesome my little sister is, she actually went and read my want lists and found this Mantle I was missing from my 2007 Bowman Heritage set. I almost forgot; the top card of the post shows one of the most ridiculous cards I've ever seen: Brian Hunter looking like Hamburgler. That's a perfect example of how much fun this box was to go through.

So, how cool is my little sister? Sometimes it's hard for us to explain how much cardboard means to our loved ones. That's why we have these blogs, so someone in our lives doesn't think we're completely crazy for finding such joy in cardboard. But Holly gets it. And she gets what these tests mean. She's already a doctor, and this Vealtone is a year away from joining her.

Thanks, Holly. I couldn't ask for a better sister.